1. society

How to do a VCA
A practical step-by-step
guide for Red Cross
Red Crescent staff
and volunteers
The International Federation’s
Global Agenda (2007–2010)
Over the next five years, the collective focus
of the Federation will be on achieving the
following goals and priorities:
Our goals
© International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Any part of this handbook may be
cited, copied, translated into other
languages or adapted to meet
local needs without prior
permission from the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies, provided that
the source is clearly stated.
Photos: International Federation
Goal 1: Reduce the number of deaths,
injuries and impact from disasters.
Goal 2: Reduce the number of deaths,
illnesses and impact from diseases and public
health emergencies.
Goal 3: Increase local community, civil
society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity
to address the most urgent situations of
vulnerability.
Goal 4: Promote respect for diversity and
human dignity, and reduce intolerance,
discrimination and social exclusion.
Our priorities
Improving our local, regional and
international capacity to respond to disasters
and public health emergencies.
Scaling up our actions with vulnerable
communities in health promotion, disease
prevention and disaster risk reduction.
Increasing significantly our HIV/AIDS
programming and advocacy.
Renewing our advocacy on priority
humanitarian issues, especially fighting
intolerance, stigma and discrimination, and
promoting disaster risk reduction.
2007
International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies
P.O. Box 372
CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland
Telephone: +41 22 730 4222
Telefax: +41 22 733 0395
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.ifrc.org
1
Contents
Abbreviations and acronyms ____________________________
Acknowledgements ____________________________________
Introduction
5
5
______________________________________
6
How to use this guide _______________________________
The principles that guide the Red Cross Red Crescent
VCA _____________________________________________
What is VCA? _____________________________________
7
Getting started
10
14
__________________________________
21
A process for VCA__________________________________
Level 1: National Society support _____________________
Understanding why VCA is being proposed ____________
Sensitizing_________________________________________
Managing the VCA _________________________________
Setting VCA objectives ______________________________
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Planning the VCA _______________________________
33
Level 2: From assessment to planning _________________
Assessment planning ________________________________
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Preparation phase_____________________
35
Field testing: Putting into practice
what you have learned ________________________
48
Implementation phase __________________________
52
VCA day __________________________________________
52
Analysis phase __________________________________
54
Systematizing, analysing and interpreting the data ______
Returning information to the community ________________
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59
Monitoring and evaluation ___________________________
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Action planning: Transforming
vulnerabilities into capacity ___________________
65
Level 3: From planning to action______________________
Deciding on the best course of action _________________
Indicators__________________________________________
Recommendations and report writing __________________
What next? ________________________________________
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79
Conclusion _______________________________________
81
List of useful web sites _________________________
83
Annexes _____________________________
85
Annex 1
Table 1.1
Table 1.2
Table 1.3
Table 1.4
Annex 2
Table 2.1
Table 2.2
Table 2.3
Table 2.4
Annex 3
The Caribbean - Flood ___________________
Flood: Example chart_____________________
Flood: Vulnerabilities and capacities________
Flood: Classing actions as prevention,
preparation or mitigation _________________
Flood: What resources are required? _______
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The Caribbean - HIV _____________________
HIV: Example chart ______________________
HIV: Vulnerabilities and capacities _________
HIV: Classing actions as prevention,
preparation or mitigation _________________
HIV: What resources are required?_________
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A sample “critical pathway”
for implementing your VCA _______________
91
How to do a VCA
Boxes
Box 1
Box 2
Box 3
Box 4
Box 5
Box 6
Box 7
Box 8
Box 9
Box 10
Box 11
Box 12
Box 13
Box 14
Box 15
Box 16
Box 17
Terminology _____________________________
A learning organization:
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent ____________
Participation: The key ingredient ___________
A process for VCA: Moving from
investigation to action in 12 steps __________
Mongolia: A successful VCA
sensitization workshop____________________
Realizing that VCA is not always
the best way forward_____________________
Stimulating VCA knowledge
in National Societies _____________________
Best practice:
Inter-regional support of VCA______________
The Red Crescent Society of Azerbaijan’s
VCA objectives in 2003 __________________
The problem with “community” ____________
What should come out of a meeting
with community leaders ___________________
Key skills and learning needed
by the VCA team ________________________
Learning-by-doing ________________________
Some of the methods for gathering
information in VCA ______________________
Tools to measure the impact of a VCA ______
Key challenge ___________________________
Learning from experience:
VCA in the Solomon Islands _______________
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3
4
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Figures
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure
3
4
5
6
Figure 7
The relationship of
the four VCA publications _________________
Living through time: a model
for sensitive change in VCA _______________
The planning cycle: Assessment ____________
VCA management structure _______________
Example of a VCA schedule_______________
Bringing different sources
of data together _________________________
The planning cycle: Programming __________
8
12
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63
Tables
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
Table 6
Table 7
Table 8
A sample matrix for VCA _________________
Template for recording information
about problems, risks, capacities,
needs and possible mitigating actions ______
Template: Transforming vulnerabilities
identified by participants into capacities ____
Do actions contribute to prevention,
preparedness or mitigation? _______________
Template for “do-able” actions _____________
Information needed
for the planning matrix ___________________
Management timeline ____________________
Credibility: Activities, indicators
and evidence ___________________________
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5
Abbreviations
and acronyms
AIDS
BPI
CBDP
CBFA
CIT
DM
DP
HIV
NDP
NGO
NSP
PPP
PRA
SMART
TRS
VCA
WPNS
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
better programming initiative
community-based disaster preparedness
community-based first aid
change, influence, transformation
disaster management
disaster preparedness
human immunodeficiency virus
national development plan
non-governmental organization
national strategic plan
project planning process
participatory rapid appraisal
specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic and timely
tool reference sheet
vulnerability and capacity assessment
well-prepared National Society
Acknowledgements
This document has been published with the support of the United
Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) and the
Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid-ECHO. We would also
like to thank Jan Gelfand and Graham Betts-Symonds for their
invaluable contributions to the production of this document.
6
Introduction
Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies are increasingly
working alongside vulnerable communities, seeking to address
the underlying causes of their problems.
This shift from our more ‘traditional role’ as service providers
has required a new set of ideas, attitudes, methods and tools in
order to meet our objectives in working together with people in
need.
Key
message
Vulnerability and capacity assessment (VCA) was developed to
enable National Societies to help communities understand the
hazards that affect them and take appropriate measures to minimize their potential impact. These measures are based on communities own skills, knowledge and initiatives – thereby preventing these hazards turning into disasters.
VCA is a method of investigation into
the risks that people face in their locality,
their vulnerability to those risks and their
capacity to cope with and recover from
disasters.
This document is intended as a simple and practical guide for
National Society staff and volunteers who wish to undertake
a local-level VCA, as part of their community programming
strategy.
Since the VCA was introduced ten years ago, National Societies
have gained a great deal of experience and expertise in its implementation, in both urban and rural communities throughout the
world. In 2003, the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies (International Federation) began an extensive review of VCA, in order to capture important lessons learned,
with a view to updating the process.
How to do a VCA
The review identified a number of important issues which have
been addressed in the first publication of this series ‘What is
VCA?– an introduction to vulnerability and capacity assessment’. A
key concern was that the VCA guide in its original format was too
complex and hard to follow – resulting in difficulties in implementation, even after the ‘training of trainers’ had been undertaken by National Society staff and volunteers.
This revised guide and related publications seek to address the
issues and questions highlighted by the evaluation and make the
VCA process more ‘user-friendly’. National Societies are therefore
encouraged to seek support from those who already have experience of and training in VCA.
Such VCA ‘resource persons’ can help guide the process, so as to
avoid potential problems and provide insight into lessons learned
by others. They can provide on-site support at key times and also
remain in contact through telephone, as needed. Resource persons do not need to be present during the entire process; their
main contribution is in giving guidance and assistance at critical
times (e.g. during data analysis).
How to use this guide
This ‘How to do a VCA’ second publication is intended as a practical, how to guide the National Society staff and volunteers to
undertake VCA. This is a part of a series of publications on VCA:
What is VCA?, VCA toolbox the third publication and VCA training guide the fourth publication (see Figure 1, p. 8). Together,
these documents explain what is VCA, how to undertake a VCA,
how to apply a variety of information-gathering techniques and
how to train Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers to use these VCA
tools.
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8
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Figure 1
The relationship of the four
VCA publications
What is VCA?
How to do a VCA
VCA toolbox
VCA training guide
Following the first publication in this series, What is VCA?, this
guide examines the practical issues associated with undertaking a
VCA. The aim is to make it an interesting and challenging community participation process.
Other International Federation and National Society documents
(such as Make that change 1) – originally produced for a regional
audience – also contain useful information. Furthermore, the
VCA toolbox and the updated community-based first aid (CBFA)
framework 2 provide a range of effective tools for any given VCA,
linked to a National Society’s existing programmes.
This guide aims to answer the following basic questions:
Why
Why is a VCA being proposed? Is it going to help the National
Society to reduce vulnerability in communities?
What
What does it involve? What will it be used for?
Who
Who will be involved in undertaking the VCA? Who will benefit?
How
How will it be carried out? What tools and methods are
involved? Do you have the necessary capacity and resources?
How do you select the communities most at risk?
When When should you start the VCA? When you should not? How
long will it take?
Where In which communities will you carry out the VCA? Is the branch
willing to support and able to undertake the work?
1
2
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Make that change –
Community-based disaster management. Trinidad and Tobago: International Federation
sub-regional office, 2003.
Available from the International Federation’s Health and Care Department.
How to do a VCA
Box 1
9
Terminology
A number of terms are repeated throughout this document, which can
either help to make things clearer or complicate matters. To ensure that
there is no confusion, basic terminology related to VCA is defined
below:
■ Methodology: An entire process or approach (e.g. assessment of
vulnerability and capacity) which brings together specific methods
and tools to support the overall process. Examples of methodologies
are VCA and community-based first aid (CBFA).
■ Method: A set and sequence of steps or tasks to be followed as
part of a larger framework (methodology) and is implemented by
using a number of analytical tools. Examples include: emergency
needs analysis, hazard analysis, livelihood analysis, gender analysis,
stakeholder analysis.
■ Tools: A means or instrument to accomplish a specific task.
Examples include: transect walk, timeline, semi-structured interviews,
role play, etc.
Selecting the best tools
10
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
This guide has been organized chronologically. Activities are presented in the order in which one would undertake them while
implementing an actual VCA (see Box 4. p. 21). Throughout the
guide, a number of questions are posed for your consideration
which will help you to plan and prepare. There are also checklists
to ensure that you have not forgotten anything. Finally, ‘tool reference sheets’ (TRS) can be found in the ‘VCA toolbox’ to help
you complete the tasks.
While the information provided in this guideline is comprehensive, it is clear that it cannot answer every question. Each VCA is
unique and depends on a wide variety of factors, ranging from
branch capacity to broader issues linked to culture and the environment.
The principles that guide
the Red Cross Red Crescent VCA
Upon reviewing VCA over the past three years, the International
Federation has noticed a major transformation within the VCA
methodology. Participants often refer to a changed perspective,
not visible to them prior, enabling them to see and do things
differently.
The model in Figure 2, p. 12 (Living through time: a sensitive
model for change in VCA) is a metaphorical representation of
this powerful transformational property, used to facilitate the
process of VCA.
The model parts are defined as follows:
The position of environment refers to the places where VCA is
conducted (i.e. village, town, apartment blocks, etc.). Behaviours
represent the actions taken by people operating within the
environment. These actions to some extent will be controlled by
the capacities or capabilities that people perceive to have.
How to do a VCA
Beliefs and values are extremely powerful. They are deeply
embedded in our being and are reflected in our behaviours and
the capabilities that we think to have. Also, what is important to
us – in other words, what we want and we do not.
Identity is even more profoundly placed: it speaks to our very
being and who we are. Identity influences how we think in each
of the other positions. For example, some people who have been
through a disaster may think of themselves as ‘victims’. As a result
of this belief, people may remain passive, awaiting assistance
rather than taking responsibility for their own actions. However,
if people perceive themselves ‘affected by disaster’ rather than as
‘victims’, their identity and attitudes in relation to this situation
will be different: they may behave differently (behaviours) and
their capabilities will reflect more choices in helping themselves.
The model is a powerful one. It encourages participants to reflect
from the six different positions, as the VCA training or actions
progress over time.
Evidence from evaluation of the methodology indicates that as
new understanding is gained, participants are able to examine
how changes at one level provoke changes at others. These transformed perspectives improve possibilities for change, resulting in
better preparedness for response as well as reducing risks in the
community.
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12
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Figure 2
Living through time: a model
3
for sensitive change in VCA
The metaphor is used as a central focal point arranged on the
floor, around which participants sit in a circle. The arrow represents the metaphor of time which is used to guide participants in
the context of past, present and future towards a common goal.
The six points arranged around the arrow in a shape represent different perceptual positions
from which we can view
events. It is used during
Capabilities
VCA to assist participants
to reflect through returning to their actions, thus
allowing them to view change
from different perspectives.
Environment
Communities
living through
time which is both
predictable and
unpredictable
Behaviours
3
Betts-Symonds (2006) derived from a model by Robert Dilts (1991).
How to do a VCA
Beliefs
and values
Goals
Identity
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
What is VCA?
VCA is a methodology for investigation. It is a means of gathering information through a participatory way. Its purpose is to
increase community members’ awareness of risks and help them
to plan activities for reducing vulnerability and increasing capacity before a disaster happens.
The first publication in this series, What is VCA?, describes VCA as:
“…an integral part (but not the only part) of disaster preparedness
that can contribute to the creation of community-based disaster preparedness programmes at the rural and urban grass-roots level. It is a
tool which enables local priorities to be identified and leads to the
design of actions that contribute to disaster reduction.
(…) With VCA, local people and communities become the focus –
not only as recipients of funding, but ideally as active participants in
the development initiative. When applied to disaster preparedness,
such methods can encourage participation, so that the people become
more completely involved in the identification of risks and in the
design of programmes and actions to prepare for disasters.”
Given National Societies’ broader responsibilities in disaster management, it is clear that risk reduction and capacity building at
the national level remain key priorities. Within this context, risk
analysis and hazard mapping can help identify those high-risk
communities which would benefit from more detailed investigations, through community VCAs.
Key
message
14
VCA itself is best geared to addressing
issues at the local level.
How to do a VCA
Our experience of VCA all over the world has shown us that VCA
often ends up leading to projects that are not necessarily hazardrelated – despite our own focus on disaster preparedness, both at
the International Federation and within National Societies.
With time and experience, we have come to recognize that the
types of risk uncovered by VCA represent the real concerns of the
people – even if these do not include natural hazards. It has
become clear that people are normally more concerned by their
daily survival problems (e.g. health concerns, lack of income or,
issues like traffic accidents etc.), often making no mention of
earthquakes or floods.
Vulnerability has been defined in relation to five components
that embody most aspects of people’s exposure to a given natural
hazard:
■ Livelihoods
■ Well-being
■ Self-protection
■ Social protection
■ Governance
Once VCA has been linked to the different components of vulnerability and the relationships between them are understood, it
becomes much easier to identify the related capacities that need
to be strengthened.
It then becomes possible to see how existing Red Cross Red
Crescent programmes, even when not specifically related to disaster preparedness, can contribute to vulnerability reduction and
capacity building at the grass-root level. This results in a better
integration of programmes and provides us with new ways of
working hand-in-hand with communities, to make our Red
Cross Red Crescent activities more effective.
This is all fine in theory. But how exactly do we deal with the
expectations that we are raising in working with the communities
by undertaking a VCA and how do we incorporate these into a
National Society’s planning process?
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
What happens when issues that do not pertain to disaster preparedness are identified and prioritized for action by communities in the planning process?
First and foremost, we must always remember that for communities, this is a real life and not just an exercise. We would not get
involved in working with communities unless we were committed to helping them find solutions to the issues raised. Therefore,
it is crucial for National Societies to manage the expectations
being raised and to communicate where they can or cannot
intervene.
Community members analysing the data.
How to do a VCA
Box 2
17
A learning organization:
the Syrian Arab Red Crescent
In 2000, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was involved in a VCA-like
assessment that used participatory rapid appraisal (PRA) tools in 13 of
its branches nationwide. In the aftermath of the 1999 earthquakes, the
National Society was worried about the possible effects of a disaster
in north-western Syria – an area which shares the same fault line.
Focus groups and interviews conducted with management, staff and
volunteers around the country identified hazards and risks other than
an earthquake, which were of a greater priority to local people. These
included lack of water, pollution and various health issues.
The National Society came to the conclusion that its volunteers could
help in mitigating both everyday problems, as well as those associated
with sudden-onset disasters. In partnership with the Ministry of Health
and Civil Defence, they began training volunteers in integrated health
and disaster preparedness activities.
As a result, Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers became involved in a
number of health and disaster preparedness projects, such as cleaning-up
the river in Damascus and organizing local awareness campaigns to
encourage people to use garbage collection points (as a way of dealing
with pollution).
Furthermore, the trained volunteers from Syrian Arab Red Crescent
branches in Hama and Idlib were put to the test in 2001, when the
Zaizon dam collapsed. They were able to respond promptly, providing
affected people with first aid, health care, relief and food aid, as well as
carrying out a rapid assessment and managing a temporary camp.
Local government agencies praised their role and a post-disaster review
lead to changes in Syrian Arab Red Crescent’s disaster management.
These activities provide a good example of how community assessment
can lead to actions that address not only people’s day-to-day priorities,
but also lead to preparedness in responding to natural disasters.
(See the International Federation’s case study: Preparedness for response to future disaster risk reduction ).
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Box 3
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Participation: the key ingredient
Participation can mean a great many things – from people simply
‘attending’ an activity, to being the principal actors and decisionmakers in a complex process.
In order to better understand what we mean by participation and how
participation can be used to strengthen or weaken the VCA process, let
us look at one simple way of defining it 4, using a ‘ladder’ of
participation, where each rung represents different levels of community
involvement.
Citizen control
Delegated power
Partnership
Placation
Consultation
Degree of
citizen power
Degree of
Tokenism
Informing
Therapy
Non participation
Manipulation
The top three rungs (partnership, delegated power and citizen control)
are where real and meaningful participation begin. Power is
redistributed through negotiation between citizens and ‘power-holders’.
Planning and decision-making responsibilities are shared, for example
through joint committees. Communities have the power to ensure that
the programme is accountable to them. In citizen control, those who
are the object of programmes have control over the programme and its
activities, while members of outside organizations act in as an advisory
capacity.
4
Arnstein, Sherry. “A Ladder of Citizen Participation”, Journal of the American Planning
Association, 35:4, July 1969, pp. 216–224.
How to do a VCA
19
The bottom three rungs – manipulation, therapy (making people feel
good) and informing – contain no participation at all. This is simply
one-way communication: proposed plans have already been decided
upon and the job of the facilitator is to achieve public support through
an exercise in public relations.
Rungs four and five – consultation and placation (to appease) – also
focus on a one-way flow of information. Those running the process use
attitude surveys, neighborhood meetings and public enquiries to collect
information.
Working with volunteers and communities does not necessarily mean
that you are working in a participatory way. The actual role of these
groups in a VCA will determine the degree to which they feel as if they
‘own’ the process, or whether they are simply being asked to provide
information and implement activities. If the volunteers and community
members are active participants in implementing a VCA, their
commitment to the process could transform the way branches and
communities work – as people themselves become the principal authors
in projects that reduce local vulnerabilities.
Those guiding the VCA must therefore be clear on what type of participation they want and what the implications are for the overall process.
As a result, those leading the VCA exercise must be prepared for
any eventual outcome that the community highlights as a priority – whether it is disaster risk reduction, health or income generation – many of which cannot be foreseen or controlled. This is
key and will be stressed over and over in all the VCA publications.
It is natural – and should not be perceived as negative – that communities will identify priority issues that fall outside the Red
Cross Red Crescent’s mandate or capacity. This can be a source of
difficulty for branches if they are not properly prepared. At the
very least, different branch departments must agree to work
together before a VCA can be undertaken effectively (e.g. health,
youth, disaster management).
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Key
message
20
VCA’s potential as well as its limitations
must be communicated to the communities:
transparency is vital and one of the most
important things to keep in mind
throughout the process.
Red Cross or Red Crescent branches must also be clear about
what they can offer and what is beyond their capacity (and may
require intervention from others). For this reason, strategic partnerships with other organizations should be developed before the
assessment begins, in order to address outstanding issues identified by communities or to advocate with government for changes.
The role that VCA plays in programme planning must also
be clear from the begining. Gathering information and then not
doing anything with it serves no purpose. It is crucial to
understand that VCA is a methodology and not a programme or
isolated activity.
Once information from the VCA is systematized and analysed, its
relevance to the planning process will become clear. National
Societies will be able to see how VCA fits into the assessment
process and how assessment in turn forms part of the project
cycle, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3
The planning cycle: assessment
21
Getting started
A Process for VCA
This diagram outlines the steps of the VCA Process.
Box 4
A process for VCA: Moving from
investigation to action in 12 steps
Level one
National Society support
1
Understanding why VCA is being proposed.
2
Sensitizing (of National Society leadership, branches, partners).
3
Setting up a management structure for the VCA.
4
Setting the VCA objectives.
Level two
From assessment to planning
5
Planning the VCA.
6
Preparation phase.
7
Using the investigation tools with the community.
8
Systematizing, analysing and interpreting the data.
9
Returning information to the community and deciding priorities
and actions for transformation.
Level three
From planning to action
10 Turn vulnerabilities into capacities through practical actions.
11 Recommendations and report writing for local authorities,
donors and partners.
12 Programme implementation: risk reduction projects with
the community.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Level 1 National Society support
Understanding
why VCA is being proposed
In getting started, the first and most critical question is: Why is a
VCA being proposed and will it help the National Society to
reduce vulnerability in communities?
Remember, the decision to undertake a VCA cannot be taken
lightly. It requires time, effort and serious responsibility involving
the National Society’s headquarters and its branches, as well as the
communities.
Useful Tips
Taking the decision
to undertake a VCA
Below are a series of questions that will help tackle this fundamental question and clarify a number of other issues:
■ Is community work reflected in your national development
plans, policies and structure? If not, is your National Society
prepared to make the necessary changes so that this becomes
part of what you do?
■ Is the proposed VCA linked with national programmes?
■ Is your National Society willing to get involved in working in
a participatory manner with communities over the medium to
long term?
■ Is VCA the most appropriate process for what you are trying
to achieve or are there other methods you should be using?
■ Do you have the resources and skills to undertake a VCA and
to do the required follow-up?
■ Are the national headquarters and the participating branches
willing to make the necessary investments in training staff and
volunteers in community work?
■ Are the other technical and programme departments prepared
to respond to community needs that arise (e.g. health), which
are not part of disaster management?
■ Are there other organizations that you can call upon for help
should the needs of the community be beyond your mandate
or capacity?
How to do a VCA
Key
message
As you can tell from these questions, there is much to be done
before any branch decides to undertake a VCA. Political will on
the part of the board and management, commitment from
branches and technical departments, and availability of financial
and human resources must all be in place prior to embarking on
such a complex and rewarding exercise.
Do not start implementing the VCA before
you have fully analysed all of the issues
raised and everybody is satisfied with
the answers.
Sensitizing
Over the last few years, VCA has become quite well known in
many National Societies. This does not necessarily mean that
everyone fully understands what is involved in carrying out a
VCA, nor the extent of the obligations and responsibilities which
will fall to branches and communities. It is up to those who are
proposing the exercise to fully explain the VCA process to all
involved – including board members, management, technical
staff, volunteers and implementing partners.
Obtaining political support within the National Society is crucial
prior to undertaking a VCA. This will entail preparing and developing a strategy to sensitize management, staff and volunteers.
23
24
Box 5
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Mongolia: A successful VCA sensitization workshop
In 2002, members of the Mongolian Red Cross Society took part in a
VCA sensitization workshop. A VCA trainer/facilitator from the Middle
East ran the session, using flip charts, pens and his own style of
encouraging communication.
A key to success was that the workshop was held in Mongolian
language, with translation into English. This meant that the onus was
on the facilitator to understand the Mongolians and not the other way
round. Groups worked and reported back in their own Mongolian
language, while the interpreter translated and made notes in English
on the flip charts, so that the facilitator could understand.
For a successful sensitization, person who is coordinating the
process must fully understand VCA, be able to present it to others and answer detailed questions. This means that you will have
to read about VCA, develope a concise presentation and be clear
on why VCA is the best course of action, given the objectives of
your project.
Useful Tips Sensitizing others to VCA
Here are some questions and tips to keep in mind:
■ Who should be sensitized?
■ What do you want them to know?
■ Who can help to sensitize the different groups?
■ When is the best time to talk with people and/or make presentations? You may want to organize a presentation during regular activities/meetings of the board.
■ Let the VCA sell itself. Remember that VCA is a powerful
process if it is appropriate for what you want to do. But do not
forget it might not be the right process for your project.
■ Practise giving the presentation. Think about the questions
that people might ask you and make sure you can answer them.
■ Disseminate information about VCA directly to the branch
volunteers.
How to do a VCA
■
■
You may wish to identify people in your National Society who
would be interested in VCA and ask them to help spread the
word about the utility of the process.
Do not forget to sensitize relevant representatives from government and other organizations working in the region or people
carrying out similar work.
If implementing direct community work is new to your National
Society, you will want to give particular consideration to the
implications of undertaking a VCA. Remember VCA is not an
end, but rather a means of gathering information for planning
projects. It may lead to long-term relations with communities:
demand on branches to work with the community may also
increase and you will need to assess your ability to meet those
demands before you begin.
There are no half measures once you start. The actual decision on
whether or not to undertake VCA is a crucial one – and something that all National Societies must carefully consider before
beginning the process.
Data collected is reviewed and validated.
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Box 6
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Realizing that VCA is not always
the best way forward
In 2002, a health delegate working with the Belarusian Red Cross
wanted to help the National Society to learn about VCA, so that they
could decide whether or not to carry out an assessment. A VCA trainer
organized a workshop, which was attended by senior National Society
management, staff and volunteers, to illustrate how the VCA process
could help National Societies identify key hazards, risks and capacities.
In this case, the process showed that most of the problems facing
Belarus were health-related and many stemmed from the 1986
Chernobyl disaster.
But the most important thing that the Belarusian Red Cross participants
learned was that their National Society was not yet ready to undertake
a VCA, and that other tools were more appropriate for the activities
they wanted to carry out at that time.
The sensitization workshop was successful in that it prevented a
National Society from carrying out an assessment which, based on
its key programme priorities, was inappropriate. It also showed
participants that the National Society did not yet have the capacity
to carry out a VCA effectively.
In 2005, the Belarusian Red Cross was able to carry out VCA and
demonstrate how local community assessment could be connected to
national-level risk, hazard and capacities mapping.
How to do a VCA
27
Managing the VCA
Once the decision has been made to go ahead, you need to look
at how the VCA will be managed. A management structure on
several levels must be created to ensure that the VCA functions
effectively (see Figure 4).
Figure 4
VCA management structure
Each level of the management structure has different roles and
responsibilities, as do the relationships between each level.
Board
Political
Head of
National Society
or of technical
department
Driving force
Headquarters
VCA coordinator
+ task force/
managing committee
and implementation
team
Branch
implementation
team
Implementing
body
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
■
■
■
The “political” level consists of the National Society’s board,
which must approve the VCA. This ensures political support,
as well as an understanding of what is required to undertake a
VCA and what are its implications. The board must be kept
informed throughout the process.
The “driving force” refers to the leader(s) in charge, key in
ensuring that the process advances. The leader (or at least one
of the leaders) should have received formal training in VCA.
They may form part of the managing committee or task force
(see below).
The “implementing body” consists of the people at the
National Society’s headquarters and branches who will actually implement the VCA.
A managing committee or task group, in-charge of day-to-day
VCA implementation decisions, will help ensure that the process
runs as smoothly as possible. Where possible, this should include
participants from all levels (i.e. political, driving force and implementation body), so that all parts of the National Society remain
informed with the VCA progress. The exact form of this operational structure depends on how your own National Society functions and what is needed. Some VCAs may not require such an
elaborate structure.
Key
message
28
The more people within a National
Society are involved with the VCA
process, the less chance of surprises and
the better chance of success.
As we have already mentioned, the VCA process may result in
communities prioritizing a wide range of issues that may or may
not have anything to do with natural disasters. Though this does
happen quite often, it is helpful to have representative from other
departments such as health in the VCA structure. It is easier to
obtain the institution-wide support for the proposed projects.
How to do a VCA
29
Your National Society may also decide to invite external partners
and/or government to take part in the committees. This will
ensure better dissemination of the results, increase the chances of
obtaining funding for projects and secure multi-sectoral and
multi-institutional acceptance and replication of the VCA
process.
Box 7
Stimulating VCA knowledge in National Societies
Some National Societies would like to promote the use of VCA and
spread information and learnings about the process throughout their
Society. A simple and effective way of doing this is to invite a member
from a branch that is considering carrying out a VCA to participate in
either the managing committee/task force and/or the implementing
team. The experience gained will be useful if the branch decides to
undertake their own VCA.
Box 8
Best practice: Inter-regional support of VCA
National Societies often call upon trainers from other regions – or even
other continents – to support their training, sensitization and
implementation activities. Examples include:
■ The Dominican Red Cross decided to carry out a VCA as part of
their community-based disaster preparedness (CBDP) programme.
Four recently trained VCA practitioners – from Argentina, Venezuela,
Guatemala and Costa Rica – provided training support and conducted ten VCAs with the National Society.
■ A Somali VCA trainer helped carry out an assessment in Africa’s
Great Lakes region.
■ In southern Africa, VCA trainers from Pakistan facilitated the process.
■ A facilitator from the Middle East helped VCA sensitization in
Mongolia (see Box 5, p. 24).
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Useful Tips Forming a management structure
When forming the management structure, make sure the following tasks are completed:
■ Draw up terms of reference, to include the roles and responsibilities (division of tasks) of all those involved, whether they
are part of the management committee or not (e.g., the board,
the Secretary General, etc.).
■ Obtain a clear commitment from those involved; this could be
done in writing if everyone agrees.
■ Outline what is needed for the structure to function (time,
resources, communication channels, etc.).
■ Identify potential problems that could occur and possible
solutions to them (e.g., relations between different levels).
■ Prepare a timeline and a budget.
■ Decide when to dissolve the structure.
Setting VCA objectives
A major goal of this VCA guide revision is to clarify the purpose
of VCA and confine its usage best suited according to the places
and types of risk. This requires a careful definition of its role, and
where it fits within a National Society’s development plans and
policies, as well as other areas of Red Cross Red Crescent work
and priorities.
Key
message
30
The objectives of your VCA are critically
important.
As part of this process, the management committee has to
establish clear and precise objectives for the VCA.
How to do a VCA
Key
message
Useful Tips Defining objectives
The following should be kept in mind as the objectives are
developed:
■ The overall objective should answer the question: Why do you
want to undertake a VCA?
■ Particular objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic and timely (SMART), as well as clear and understood
by all.
■ Use a participatory process to develop your objectives.
■ Everyone involved in the process should approve the objectives
in order to avoid future problems.
■ Determine the size and parameters of the VCA, by answering
questions such as: Where will the VCA be implemented? How
many communities and which branches will be involved?
What human and financial resources are available?
■ Bear in mind the cultural attitudes and practices of the communities where the VCA will be carried out.
VCA requires commitment and should
not be carried out without the agreement
of the people who will be most involved –
branch volunteers and communities.
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Box 9
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■
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
The Red Crescent Society of Azerbaijan’s VCA
objectives in 2003
Promote greater community awareness of hazards and
vulnerabilities, and knowledge of basic coping strategies.
Encourage the Red Crescent to develop greater regional responsibility for programmes, through involvement in planning and assessment
processes.
Support the Red Crescent Society of Azerbaijan in becoming a
greater advocate for vulnerable groups in the disaster preparedness
and response process.
Promote better cooperation between the National Society, local
authorities and other organizations.
New VCA learning-by-doing practitioners in the Maldives in 2006
33
Planning the VCA
Level 2
From assessment to planning
Now that your National Society has decided to carry out a VCA,
you have a management structure in place, objectives have been
developed and everybody is enthusiastic about starting the VCA,
what is the next step?
Assessment planning
VCA can take on a number of different forms, from a quick
information gathering process to a more complicated and
detailed participatory course of action. A short process will provide information, but may lack meaningful community participation and commitment, which in turn can reduce the chance of
developing relevant project proposals. Detailed, more profound
processes require additional time and resources, but allow the
branch and the community to develop relationships which may
lead to longer-term quality impact.
Key
message
Planning is crucial whatever the form of the VCA. It serves to clarify what is to be done during the course of the VCA, from its
inception to completion. This will help ensure that everything is
organized according to a schedule and that no details are left out.
A proper plan will identify who does what, when things need to be
done and what resources are required. This enables you to monitor
progress and evaluate the quality of activities and their impact.
Remember that the VCA timeline is a
‘roadmap’, which may need on-going
adjustment.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Below is an example of a planning matrix, including a timetable:
Table 1
Other
March
February
January
December
November
October
Resources
needed
Who will
ensure it
is done?
Activity
Phases
A sample matrix for VCA
Preparation
phase
Implementation
phase
Analysis
phase
Planning and
action phase
The planning process should involve as many people as possible
who will participate in the process. In some cases this may be difficult, especially during the preparation phase when the VCA
coordinator and the management committee are primarily
responsible for organizing the VCA process. However, once the
implementing team’s members have been trained in VCA, they
should be encouraged to take an active role in planning.
Let us take a look, in detail, at some of the issues to consider and
the tasks to be completed in each of the different phases:
1 Preparation phase;
2 Implementation phase;
3 Analysis phase;
4 Project planning and action phase.
35
Preparation
phase
The activities to be carried out during this preparation phase
are mainly the responsibility of the staff and management committee.
This includes making all necessary decisions and completing activities that need to be done before the actual VCA process begins.
Having everything in place will help minimize potential problems.
Preparation takes time and requires considerable energy on the
part of the VCA coordinators and staff, all of whom should
already be trained and ready to carry out the assessment.
This initial phase includes:
A Identification of, and communication with, participating
branches and communities.
B Selection and training of staff and volunteers (the implementing team). Learning-by-doing could be an option in
training (see Box 13, p. 42).
C Identification and acquisition of necessary resources.
D Identification of investigation tools to use in the VCA.
A Identification of /communication
with branches and communities
The identification of branches and communities taking part in the
VCA must be based on clearly defined criteria. These criteria will
depend on the VCA’s objectives and will differ for each situation.
Useful Tips Community identification
Identification criteria may include:
■ Which communities are particularly vulneable? (This should
be partly based on national risk analysis and maps.)
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
How accessible are the communities?
How many communities? What size should the VCA be?
Is the branch experienced in working with communities? Can
the VCA be linked to other Red Cross Red Crescent activities?
Does the branch have other “entry points” into communities
through other programmes?
Is the community interested? Is it sufficiently organized?
Does the branch have the political will to carry out the VCA?
What is the branch’s capacity? Does it have a sufficient number of volunteers?
Are other NGOs working in nearby communities? Could you
work in partnership with them?
How secure will the working environment be for staff and volunteers?
If the number of communities with whom you can work is
limited, could you pick a community that can represent the
issues of other communities. Will this “sample” help you to
extend programmes over a wider geographical area?
Given the above criteria, can the selected branch and community ensure a reasonable chance of success for the project?
By design, VCA is participatory. Branches will generally know
whether or not they have the capacity to undertake a VCA. It is
therefore more effective for headquarters to consult branches prior
to undertaking a VCA, rather than taking a unilateral decision.
For this same reason, branches should also be involved in the
selection of the communities where VCA will take place. They
know their region and are aware of local risks and vulnerabilities.
Finally, the communities themselves will need to be consulted
and the VCA process explained to them. They can then decide if
they wish to participate.
Key
message
How to do a VCA
It is vital that time be taken to explain to
communities, in a way that they understand,
what is involved, why the VCA is being
proposed, what is the purpose and what
are the expected results. Branches and
communities should feel that they own the
process. After all, branch members will
carry out most of the work and communities
will be most affected by the process.
Once a potential community (or communities) has been chosen,
representatives of the VCA team will wish to visit the area and
interact with the people, as part of the “official” VCA process.
The team will provide an initial explanation to the community
leaders, as well as organize a broader meeting during which VCA
can be explained in detail. They can also use this opportunity to
gather basic information about the community.
As we know, communities are often sceptical about outsiders
coming in and asking a lot of questions. Even where the branch
already has a good relationship with target communities, it
remains important to thoroughly explain the VCA process to villagers (not just community leaders), so that everyone feels comfortable with what will happen.
Useful Tips Gathering information
During the first visit to potential communities, you will wish to
gather the following information and/or complete these tasks:
■ Meet key leaders.
■ Make a list of other leaders (including contact information).
■ Identify:
■ other humanitarian actors working in the community;
■ level of organization in the community;
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
■
■
■
■
■
Box 10
local government structure;
major problems.
Familiarize yourself with the layout of the community.
Understand the rhythm of the community: When do people
work? What time are they at home? When is the best time to
carry out activities?
Ensure that Red Cross Red Crescent representatives maintain a
friendly, dynamic and motivational attitude, whilst at the same
time clarifying the process and raising realistic expectations.
The problem with ‘community’….
It is important not to idealise the notion of ‘community’. The people in any
locality that outsiders think of as being a ‘community’ may not always be
co-operative on all issues. They can also be in conflict, involving exploitative and repressive relations, especially in relation to their livelihoods (e.g.
different access to land and water) and social existence (e.g. caste, ethnic
differences, religious intolerances). Another factor is gender: we cannot
on the one hand advocate for gender equality and women’s rights and
ignore the fact that in any ‘community’, divisions between males and
females are of crucial importance. Do we work on gender issues, or with
the ‘community’ that exists on the basis of gender inequality?
Programmes that fail to acknowledge the internal divisions and
differences within a ‘community’ may be liable to fail. These issues are
well-known in NGO development work, and are recognised in the
Federation’s programmes through the Better Programming Initiative (e.g.
through the concept of dividers and connectors in BPI). Many donors do
not take these issues into account enough, and tend to idealise the idea
of ‘community’. As a result of some VCAs, the resulting interventions can
be very useful in reducing conflicts between different groups in a locality,
since outsiders can act as catalysts for change.
You are now in a position to select and invite different community leaders to attend a sensitization meeting.
How to do a VCA
39
Useful Tips
Sensitization meeting
Some key points to remember are:
■ Issue the invitation in writing, where appropriate;
■ Ensure participation and involvement of as many community
leaders as possible, and gaining their approval and commitment for the process.
■ Make sure that all participants are aware of who else will
attend the meeting.
■ Prepare an agenda and a presentation with key messages that
you wish to communicate to community leaders.
■ Avoid creating unrealistic expectations of the Red Cross Red
Crescent in the community. This meeting is the first opportunity where these may arise. If you are not clear from the beginning, you will have problems in maintaining the focus of the
community for the remainder of the VCA.
Box 11
What should come out of a meeting
with community leaders
By the end of the meeting you should have:
■ clear points of reference within the community with whom you will
work;
■ a better idea of community interests and needs;
■ community ownership and commitment of the VCA process, focusing
on vulnerabilities and capacities (rather than on all the issues faced
by the community); and
■ a tentative, simple VCA action plan with a proposed timeline – developed with and agreed upon by the community leaders by the end of
the meeting.
Remember that it is up to community members to decide whether or not
to become involved. If they decide to participate, they will be able to
help the team with information-gathering. They know best with whom the
team should talk, when is the best time to find people and where they
can be found.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
B Selection and training of staff and volunteers
Although VCA is time-consuming and demanding, it also offers
staff and volunteers the chance to gain valuable community working skills and to participate in a process that is not only enjoyable,
but will have a meaningful impact in reducing vulnerability.
The selection and training of the “VCA team”, especially at the
branch level, will determine the degree of success of the VCA.
Useful Tips Selection of team members
You will need to decide on the team’s size and composition,
based on your selection criteria including:
■ Mix: include a mix of board members and volunteers.
■ Skills: have a multidisciplinary team, with skilled people from
all areas.
■ Gender: ensure as much as possible gender balance, it is of
great importance to increase the quality of the assessments.
■ Links: a cross-section of volunteers who can connect with
different community sectors, such as youth and women.
■ Level of education: decide on what level of education is most
appropriate – but, be careful not to exclude people who could
help in the process, even if they do not have the required level
of education.
■ Other considerations:
■ knowledge of the Red Cross Red Crescent;
■ good communication skills and is comfortable in working
with all sectors of the community;
■ a knowledge of necessary languages;
■ group dynamics skills;
■ well-organized;
■ facilitation skills;
■ patience and integrity.
■ Commitment: members must be available and committed for
the whole process, which includes training, practice sessions,
actual VCA, data analysis and project planning. They need to
show that they are dynamic and enthusiastic.
How to do a VCA
Key
message
You should seriously consider inviting
people from outside the Red Cross Red
Crescent to participate – including representatives from target communities, partner
organizations and local government.
For example, National Societies in the
Caribbean carried out a regional VCA
training session in 2004. Participants
included representatives from the countries’
national disaster management offices.
This led to a more effective VCA, with real
cooperation and understanding.
Once the team members have been selected, sufficient time must
be allocated to training them in all aspects of VCA. It is vital that
the team members understand what is VCA and are familiar with
the various community and investigative methods. Experience
has shown that at least three full consecutive days are needed to
train the team. You should also devote adequate time to the ongoing training.
Community work is very specialized and that the staff and volunteers must be properly prepared, if they are to make full use of the
models, methods, tools and materials at their disposal. Your
resource person can help design and implement a systematized
training programme that will ensure that the trained staff and
volunteers have the necessary knowledge and skills.
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Box 12
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Key skills and learning needed by the VCA team
Team members should receive training in the following themes:
■ Understanding VCA, including relevant terminology and concepts.
■ Participatory methods of investigation.
■ How communities function.
■ Culture and cultural sensitivity.
■ Team-building, decision-making, group dynamics.
■ Facilitation techniques.
■ Recording and interpretation of data.
Box 13
Learning-by-doing
‘Learning by doing’ was developed with the aim of supporting VCA
practitioners in developing their skills in the field, whilst maintaining
the standards of the VCA process. It takes into consideration real time
constraints which may exist when working with people, on a day to day
basis. In this way, a community VCA can be undertaken over a period
of five days, whilst building in a degree of flexibility (i.e. over a week
or at intervals suited to individual community needs and capacities).
Such a flexible model of VCA implementation recognizes that
communities may have limited periods of time to offer, or that they are
not necessarily fully engaged from the beginning. In addition, ‘learningby-doing’ enables the VCA practitioner to be mindful of the dynamic
and ever-changing environment of community living.
As with similar processes, the challenges of VCA can only be met when
well-trained VCA practitioners fully understand the methodology and the
use of tools as identified in the VCA toolbox, in a dynamic and creative
way.
How to do a VCA
C Identification and acquisition
of necessary resources
Proper administrative systems and financial resources need to
be put into place from the begining. For VCA to succeed, staff
and volunteers must also be trained in their usage.
Just as team members have specific roles in managing the VCA,
they also need to assume responsibility for administration and
financial control. A budget must be prepared, letters must be sent
and reports need to be written. Remember that reports are often
the only means by which you can communicate the successes to
donors and other organizations. Good reports may encourage
donors and other stakeholders to participate and also to contribute.
Key
message
In all cases, you should put together a sensible budget, which
reflects the costs associated with undertaking a VCA. A VCA does
not need to be expensive.
The resources most needed are the time,
energy and commitment of staff and
volunteers.
Key
message
If your National Society does not have the necessary funding, you
will need to produce a proposal that can be sent to the potential
donors. Donors will also want to know how the VCA is linked to
other programming. And, given that VCA is a research process
and not a project in itself, how it will lead to projects that will
reduce vulnerability and strengthen capacity.
It is important to recognize from the
begining that VCA leads to a planning
process, resulting in specific projects which
will eventually help reduce vulnerability.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
You might, of course, have to modify your plans slightly once the
VCA team is in place and more people are involved in planning
and decision-making (for example, your National Society may
decide to focus on other communities or branches). Make sure
your proposal to donors reflects these modifications.
As mentioned, the VCA should lead to one or more risk reduction interventions. Recognizing that many specific activities, such
as mitigation micro-projects, will only be identified once a community participatory planning and project development process
has been undertaken. Since these activities will also require funding, they should be considered from the begining and be included in the VCA funding proposal wherever possible.
D Identification of investigation tools
to use in the VCA
The bulk of the implementation team’s training will focus on how
to use the various VCA research tools. All of the tools are
designed to identify and understand the different types of vulnerabilities and capacities in a given community in line with VCA
objectives – in other words, creating a baseline of information.
A community spatial map carefully drawn from direct observation
in the community
How to do a VCA
Box 14
45
Some of the methods
for gathering information in VCA
Some of the principal methods include:
Analysis of secondary/external sources (usually done prior
to the actual VCA and with a skilled group of volunteers).
■ Sampling.
■ Questionnaires.
■ Interviews.
■ Focus groups.
■ Historical timeline.
■ Mapping – risk, community, spatial, capacity, etc.
■ Seasonal calendar or chart.
■ Institutional social network analysis.
■ Direct observation.
■ Transect walk.
■ Problem tree.
■
Two VCA investigatory methods: Focus group (left) and mapping.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Individual descriptions and explanations of how to use each of
these tools can be found in the VCA toolbox and the VCA training guide. The toolbox focuses on what each tool is to be used for
and how to apply each method, while the training guide explains
how to train people in their use. The VCA training guide will help
you to organize and implement a comprehensive training programme. If your National Society does not have skilled people in
these areas, you could ask for support from a resource person.
As part of the planning process, all members of the team should
participate in deciding exactly which methods to employ. The
final list will depend on factors such as:
■ what information is available from secondary sources of information;
■ what information you wish to collect;
■ number of available volunteers;
■ available timeframe;
■ the community’s culture (some methods may not be appropriate in certain cultures);
■ who will facilitate (e.g. gender may play a significant role).
Once people have received basic training, the planning process
can move ahead more rapidly. Decisions can be made on logistics
and the division of work – i.e. who will do what and when.
Useful Tips External research
Some team members and trained volunteers can begin research
into secondary or external sources of information from the begining (i.e. information that does not stem from the community
VCA process itself ).
■ This will encourage the VCA team to liaise with potential
partners, such as national disaster coordinating committees,
meteorological offices, and national/local governments.
■ Reviewing this type of information helps produce baseline
data and makes team members more aware of risks – including emerging risks such as global climate change – in both, the
communities where the VCA will be carried out and in the
wider regional context.
How to do a VCA
■
Team members can also start to think about how some of these
information might be relevant in conducting the VCA and
how it might be presented to the community.
In undertaking actual research, the team will have started the
process – a key ingredient in fostering motivation and a sense of
ownership.
Gathering information through participatory group meetings.
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48
Field testing:
Putting into practice
what you have learned
The preparation phase takes time. It is like painting a house:
seventy-five per cent of the time is devoted to cleaning walls,
covering furniture, buying and preparing materials. Only 25 per
cent of the time is actually taken up with painting.
Before going into a chosen community to start the actual process,
you will need a bridge between the preparation phase and the
implementation phase – to practise what has been learned. This
is called ‘field testing’.
Field testing consists in undertaking a practice run. You can test
out new skills and knowledge and then analyse what worked best,
what did not and how to improve things. Field testing is not usually carried out in the community where the actual VCA will take
place, but in a community with which the branch is familiar and
is willing to help. It is important not to raise expectations in the
practice community. Everyone must understand what you are
doing and how it will help the Red Cross Red Crescent work better in reducing vulnerability.
National Society
participants in a VCA
training session test the
tools they have learned
to use in field practice.
How to do a VCA
In some cases you may not be able to field test the VCA within a
community. This does not mean that you should not test at all.
Alternatives include practising on family members or with other
Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers and/or setting up a simulation exercise.
Useful Tips Organizing a field test
Organizing a field test will mirror what you will need to do for
the “real” VCA, including the distribution of tasks. All members
should attend a planning meeting to address the following:
■ Who will act as the overall leader/spokesperson for the day?
■ Who will contact the ‘practice’ community and explain the
purpose of the field test?
■ Who will organize an orientation session about the community for VCA members?
■ When is the best time to meet with the community (daytime,
evening, weekend)?
■ What will be the agenda or order of the day?
■ What methods will be used and who will undertake each one
(formation of teams)?
■ What materials will be needed (tape, flipchart paper, etc.)?
■ What questions will be asked and to whom (interviews, focus
groups, etc.)?
■ How long will the exercise last (timelines)?
■ Who will oversee logistics (make a check list)?
■ transportation;
■ buying materials;
■ communications;
■ first-aid kit;
■ map of the community (does one exist?);
■ lunch/snacks or refreshments for community members
(if you decide to provide them);
■ identification (to identify yourselves as Red Cross Red
Crescent volunteers – bibs, hats, Red Cross Red Crescent
identity card, etc.).
■ What is the emergency plan?
■ How will you thank the community? A return visit? A letter?
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Figure 5 provides a sample of a VCA schedule. Remember that
some interviews and other activities can be done on different days
if necessary.
Figure 5
Example of a VCA schedule
08:00
Pick up team members
09:00
Arrival in the community
09:15
Introduction to community
■ Explain purpose of the day
■ Who is present?
■ What is going to happen?
Schedule
■ Division of group according to arrangements
made by the community
09:45–10:45
Visit two focus groups (women, factory workers, etc.)
Interview key informant (doctor, teacher, village
elder, etc.)
Transect walk and focused direct observation
Problem tree
11:00–12:00
Mapping exercise with group of ten people
■ Historical profile/visualization with group
of youth and seniors
■ Seasonal chart
12:00
Lunch. Discussion on progress, direct observation.
(Remember you may have to provide lunch and/or
refreshments for some participants and certainly for
the volunteers)
13:00–14:00
Household assessment/neighbourhood vulnerability
Assessing the capacity of people’s organizations
15:00
Thank community
15:30
Leave community
Note: further key informant interviews will take place during
the week following the VCA day.
How to do a VCA
Once you have completed the field test, hold a debriefing session
to think about the field test.
Useful Tips
Reflecting on the experience
of a field test
The organizers/trainers should address the following issues with
the group:
■ How did people feel? Were they nervous? Was it hard to talk
with the community members? Did they understand what you
were doing? Were they approachable? What can be done better to make yourselves and the community more comfortable?
■ What worked? Why?
■ What didn’t work? Why?
■ Were the tools appropriate given the target population?
■ Did the tools provide the information you wanted? If not,
what changes do you need to make?
■ How did the organization of the day go?
■ Were the logistics adequate?
The overall plan can then be modified, based on the information
gathered during debriefing. Logistics should be sorted out and
the choice of research tools must be finalised, as team members
will have a better idea on methods which they feel most comfortable in using. At this point, the team should systematize, analyse
and interpret the data (see p. 54).
The team is now ready to undertake the VCA.
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52
Implementation
phase
VCA day
After all the planning, training, practice and preparation, you are
finally ready to implement the VCA in the community. This
should be an exciting day – a day that will have implications on
the way in which the National Society and specific branches work
with communities to reduce vulnerabilities in a direct manner.
It is the beginning of real community work.
In fact, you have already undertaken a VCA. You can use the
same checklist prepared for the field test – although you may have
modified it according to suggestions made at the debriefing
exercise.
Useful Tips Last minute suggestions
Just in case you think you may need it, here is an additional checklist to make sure everything is ready and everybody is prepared:
■ Good preparation is a “must”.
■ Make sure everybody knows how the day will unfold and what
will happen.
■ Be flexible – expect the unexpected and be ready to deal with
it creatively.
■ Make sure you have a complete list of required resources and
sufficient funds to get everything ready on time.
■ VCA team members need to be prepared for every activity and
familiar with every tools.
■ Ensure appropriate timing for activities (not too intense) with
scheduled breaks in between the activities.
■ Be familiar with the composition of the communities before
implementing the VCA.
■ Have all background data ready (assessment tools, secondary
data, etc.).
How to do a VCA
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Ask for help well in advance if you need it. Support is always
available from the International Federation’s delegations and
from sister National Societies.
Ensure that all the relevant information is shared and
explained to community leaders, who should represent as
many groups in the community as possible.
Ensure that facilitators and team members remain humble and
treat people with respect and information is conveyed in a
manner that everybody understands. Use visual techniques for
people who cannot read or write.
Ensure adequate facilities for carrying out the VCA.
Plan for follow-up, monitoring and evaluation in order to
ensure permanent commitment from and to the community.
Use community members to help with this task.
Understand and respect the culture and customs of the communities.
Think about working with children in the community. But
do not forget that you must get prior consent from their
families and follow the protocol identified in the VCA
toolbox.
What you are going to do now is simply putting all the learnings
into practice. Make sure all team members have rested well and
remember to have fun!
Community Based
Disaster Management
Training Programme,
Jamaica, 2003.
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54
Analysis phase
Key
message
After having gathered information during the course of the VCA
or field-test day, what should you do with it? In many ways, this
is when the real work begins.
The objective of the VCA is to collect
information so that it can be used by
branches, communities and other partners
to develop programmes and projects
which will reduce vulnerability.
The tasks described below should be practised as part of the fieldtesting exercise. Team members should be adequately trained in:
■ systematizing data;
■ interpreting and drawing conclusions from the data; and
■ developing recommendations for the future.
Systematizing, analysing
and interpreting the data
Once you have collected the data, you need to put it into a format that will allow you to better analyse and interpret it. This is
called systematizing the data. This involves entering the large
quantity of raw data into charts and cleaning up diagrams and
drawings, so that they are easily understood.
Once the data has been systematized, it can then be shown to all
team members so that they can see what it says about the community’s vulnerabilities, capacity, etc. This is called “talking to
the data” – in other words, analysing and interpreting what the
data is telling you.
How to do a VCA
This process takes time and team members’ skills will improve
with practice. It is essential that the team include one or two
members from the community. They know their own reality and
are best able to clarify issues and put them into context – something outsiders are not always able to do. They have the right to
be involved because any resulting interventions will have a direct
impact on their lives. However, do encourage the community to
select people with the necessary skills and sufficient time to
participate in what can be quite a difficult process.
Putting systemized VCA data on walls for analysis.
The visual approach to understanding data facilitates
group thinking and ownership.
If team members’ experience of analysing raw data is limited, it
may be useful to ask for support from VCA resource person,
other people in your National Society or from the International
Federation delegation. People with formal VCA training will
know how to make sense of the information. For example, if you
used questionnaires, it is essential that somebody skilled in quantitative data analysis help with both the design of the questionnaire and the interpretation of results.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
When interpreting the data, try to ensure that your analysis
reflects what is really happening in the community and is consistent with your objectives. If the focus is on disaster preparedness,
you will be seeking to better understand vulnerability and capacities related to natural disasters within the community and how
they have been changing over time.
You should generally look for at least three sources to support
your interpretation. This is called triangulation and gives your
observations and conclusions credibility.
Figure 6
Bringing different sources
of data together
Triangulating different data sources
results in more valid information.
Community
resource map
Seasonal
charts
Transect walk
Triangulation
Community
hazard/risk map
57
Institutional
chart
Triangulation
Quantitative
statistical
data
Historical
timeline
Triangulation:
Different sources of information
about community risks and hazards,
local capacities and recommendations
for action
Community focus
group discussion
Venn
diagram
Secondary
data
Triangulation
Semi-structured interviews
with key informants
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
The data also allows you to draw conclusions about why a
certain situation exists:
■ For example, you may see from various sources that villagers
living below a steep cliff made of loose rock are in a high-risk
area. While they understand this, they continue to live there.
■ Other information gathered may indicate that all other land
has been bought up and the villagers have nowhere else to live
that is sufficiently close to potential employment.
■ You may also conclude that the situation deteriorated after a
railway was built on top of the cliff, which affected its stability.
■ The risk was further increased by erosion, caused by people
cutting down trees in order to use the wood for cooking or due
to more frequent heavy rainfall, possibly linked to global
climate change.
You will end up with a large amount of information that you
need to organize 5. With the other team members, take the time
to look at, think about and come up with reasons as to why situations exist. You can compare this with observations derived from
other methods used during the VCA, to support or reject your
conclusions.
Once you have analysed and interpreted the data, your understanding of the community’s situation will be based on coherent
evidence. You can then use the information to plan risk-reduction
programmes and activities: this will be done
together with community members during
the planning phase.
Working together with Caribbean National
Societies in 2004 to turn data into findings
and recommendations.
5
See the VCA toolbox publication for detailed information and instruction on systematizing
and validating information.
How to do a VCA
Returning information
to the community
Key
message
Data analysis and interpretation are not complete until they are
validated by the community. The VCA team is responsible for
going back to the community with the information – for validation, as well as to share findings with them.
Community members are in the best
position to confirm your conclusions or to
point out mistakes you may have made.
Nevertheless, there has to be a balance between community perceptions of risk (which may give priority to hazards such as road
accidents, disease and water supply, but not to major natural hazards) and the National Society’s understanding of situations based
on larger-scale risk assessment and mapping (including broader
trends such as large-scale deforestation, changes in river runoff
due to increasing irrigation or climate change). Using secondary
information sources is therefore important when intepreting primary data.
Useful Tips
■
■
■
■
■
Presenting the data
to the community
Present the findings in a format that is accessible to everybody.
Use visual aids and appropriate language.
Your presentation should be dynamic, but should also give
community members the opportunity to voice their opinions
and questions.
Take accurate notes so that the conclusions can be modified.
Remember that community members were part of the analysis
and interpretation team so it may be appropriate for them to
present some of the information.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
■
In any event, all VCA team members should participate. For
example, it may be worthwhile to return the information to
the specific groups they worked with during the VCA. This
will also help to build on-going relations between the branch
and the community, and will facilitate the planning and implementation of resulting projects.
Key
message
60
You now have baseline data that has been
approved by all those involved in the
VCA. Baseline data is necessary to
measure the impact of any projects to be
implemented. By comparing this data with
information collected once the project has
been completed, you should be able to
demonstrate that the activities to reduce
vulnerability and build capacity have had
a positive impact on the lives of
community members.
One other point to keep in mind is that community members
may now ask you – once again – what is going to happen next?
You may have already explained several times that the next step is
to introduce and organize the planning process. But, talk it over
with the community as many times as necessary, so that everything is clear.
Remember that VCA requires continuous analysis. As more
information becomes available, volunteers and community
members need to ensure that the conclusions and the recommendations are constantly reviewed, updated and disseminated.
Once the data collection and analysis has been completed, the real
work with the community begins – i.e. the actual planning of
actions with the community to reduce risk and increase capacity.
How to do a VCA
Box 4 (p. 21) outlined the first stage in the VCA process – that
of assessment. In Figure 7 (p. 63), we come to the next step of
the cycle – programming.
Monitoring and evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation 6 must be part of the process from the
beginning. It is the only way to determine whether VCA has had
an impact – on both the National Society and the communities.
Monitoring and evaluation will demonstrate the extent to which
people are pleased with the process and see value in it; it will also
enable you to document lessons learned, so that you can continue to improve capacity.
Key
message
Monitoring and evaluation will also help determine the following:
■ Skills gained by the National Society, especially at the branch
level, that can be transferred to other projects;
■ Level of interest within the National Society in continuing to
work with communities; and how these changes in attitudes
are reflected in policies and in programme innovation;
■ Impact of the process – demonstrating to donors the results
of their funding.
Assessing how well you have succeeded
shows communities that you know what
you are doing and are serious about risk
reduction. This will reinforce the feeling
that working with the Red Cross Red
Crescent will help make positive changes
in their communities.
A wide range of tools exist to measure the impact. Your starting
points are the VCA objectives which, if you remember, must follow the SMART rule – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic
6
See reference sheet in the VCA toolbox.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
and timely. You will wish to refer to these objectives throughout
the VCA, to check that they are being met. If not, you will need
to ascertain how activities can be adjusted to streamline the objectives and the impact.
Box 15
■
■
■
■
Tools to measure the impact of a VCA
Questionnaires submitted at the beginning and at the end of the
VCA, to measure changes in attitude towards VCA, the Red Cross
Red Crescent, community work or other topics that your National
Society thinks are important.
Interviews with representatives from different groups such as the
board, technical staff, management and volunteers.
Interviews with focus groups.
Analysis of quantitative information, such as the number of volunteers
over the course of the VCA, number of training sessions, etc. Note
that this type of quantitative data may not tell you what is happening
differently (i.e. as a result of the number of people trained).
The point is to have specific means of measuring the changes that
VCA has brought about and to ensure that these are well-documented. Such solid evidence will form the basis for implementing change – and will certainly help in obtaining funds to support
the programmes and projects resulting from information
gathered during the VCA.
How to do a VCA
Figure 7
The planning cycle: Programming
Key
message
Although this guide introduces the main elements of project
planning and development, its does not go into the details of
facilitating a comprehensive community planning exercise.
Several other documents exist for this purpose. They include:
■ Make the change – Community-based disaster management. 7
■ Project planning process. 8
■ Toolkit for Community Risk Assessment and Action Planning. 9
7
8
9
Community members should always
participate actively in translating data into
recommendations and then in planning
potential projects.
International Federation Trinidad and Tobago subregional office. Make that change –
Community-based disaster management. Trinidad and Tobago: International Federation, 2003.
International Federation. Project planning process handbook. Geneva: International Federation,
2002.
ProVention Consortium. Toolkit for Community Risk Assessment and Action Planning.
Geneva: ProVention Consortium, 2005.
Available at: http://www.proventionconsortium.org/CRA_toolkit
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
VCA experience worldwide has shown that planning actions is a
strong motivating factor for community members. After all, most
people want to create better lives for themselves and their neighbours, given the opportunity and support to do so.
Since the communities themselves will be primarily responsible
for any actions undertaken as a result of the VCA, it is important
that they be involved in making the decisions – especially as,
depending on the outcome, the Red Cross Red Crescent branch
may or may not be a partner in resulting projects.
Box 16
Key challenge
During the analysis and planning process, the facilitators (volunteers
and staff) need to be as open as possible to what the community has to
say. They should try to avoid “leading” the community to adopt results
and actions based on Red Cross Red Crescent needs or capacity. This
is especially important, because, as has been repeated in this series of
publications, the priority of the communities may not be related to disaster management and could, therefore, be beyond the scope or capacity
of the Red Cross Red Crescent.
One note of caution: when a community actively participates in
the process of analysing and transforming their vulnerabilities
into capacities, their perceptions of the risks they face can also
increase. To assist in alleviating these, National Societies can offer
tangible support to the communities: first aid training, early
warning micro-projects, development of community disaster
plans, including preparedness and response. These are examples
of concrete results from the VCA and community planning
process.
65
Action planning:
transforming
vulnerabilities
into capacity
Level 3
From planning to action
Deciding on the best course of action
Once the data has been analysed and interpreted, the community and the Red Cross Red Crescent branch are ready to determine
the best course of action.
Key
message
Several things are critical if this process is to work properly,
including:
■ Facilitators must fully understand the tools.
■ Community members must understand and agree on the definitions of the various terms used.
■ Most importantly, facilitators must recognize that not everybody in a community will agree on what the priorities are and
how things should be done. What you are trying to do is connect sectors of communities, not divide them. 10
10
It is essential that facilitators are skilled
in addressing potential conflicts that may
surface during the planning process.
You should refer to the better programming initiative (BPI) in order to become familiar
with how to bring communities together and find solutions, rather than cause problems
and do more harm than good. The VCA training guide publication in this series gives more
information about BPI.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
The procedure in planning a course of action is set out below:
Step 1
Consensus
The community needs to reach a consensus on the priority problems/issues/hazards from all those identified through the VCA
process. This can be done by a ranking process 11 - based on the
most urgent, critical or immediate problems, and on the issues
most often voiced by community members.
Step 2
Identifying vulnerabilities
Once the priority problems/issues/hazards have been established,
the community needs to look at:
■ How each of the problems/issues/hazards affects the community;
■ Why they do so;
■ What types of vulnerabilities exist in relation to each of the
problems/issues/hazards.
Useful Tips Towards mitigation
This can be done through the following exercise:
■ Divide into groups according to the problems/issues/hazards
identified. Each group will undertake the same tasks, but in
relation to a specific problem/issue/hazard:
■ list all potential risks and impact in relation to the problem/issue/hazard (i.e. structural, non-structural, social,
economic, etc.);
■ identify vulnerabilities within the community with relation
to the problem/issue/hazard;
■ reflect on both existing and desired capacities needed to face
or minimize the identified problem/issue/hazard;
■ list immediate needs for addressing the problem/issue/
hazard;
■ list all mitigation actions that could be undertaken.
11
See reference sheet in the VCA toolbox.
How to do a VCA
67
All responses should be placed in table such as Table 2 below.
Table 2
Problem/
issue/
hazard
Template for recording
information about problems,
risks, capacities, needs and
possible mitigating actions
Potential
risk
Vulnerabilities
Capacities
Immediate
needs
Mitigation
actions
1
1.1
1.2
2.1
2.2
3.1
3.2
1
2
3
1
2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
2
3
This exercise helps the community to identify all of the factors
associated with each specific problem/issue/hazard and consider
what could be done to mitigate its effects. In order to ensure the
exercise is successful, the facilitators should make sure that everybody understands what the different terms mean. 12
Step 3
Defining actions: Capacities
Based on the information generated through the above exercise,
participants can begin to refine their analysis and define concrete
actions aimed at transforming vulnerabilities into capacities. In
this way, communities increase their level of ownership and begin
to understand how they themselves can undertake transformative
actions based on the capacities that they already have.
12
See VCA training guide.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Still working in groups, invite the participant to list the vulnerabilities associated with each of the problems/issues/hazards and
then to identify a minimum of three concrete actions that would
transform these vulnerabilities into capacities.
The following example of a chart can be used to complete the task.
Table 3
Template: Transforming
vulnerabilities identified by
participants into capacities
Problem/
issue/hazard
Vulnerabilities
Flood
Vulnerability 1
a)
b)
c)
Vulnerability 2
a)
b)
c)
Step 4
Actions to transform vulnerabilities
into capacities
Reality check:
Towards implementation
The next stage of the process is to refine these actions further and
to assess, in detail, how realistic each action is and what is
needed to implement each one of them.
Explain to the participants that they are going to analyse their
capacity to undertake the suggested actions. Ask them to assess
each action identified in the previous exercise, according to the
following CIT (change, influence, transformation) criteria:
■ Can the action be implemented by those at risk for immediate
change?
■ If the action is beyond the capacity of those at risk, could they
influence change with the support of others over the medium
term?
How to do a VCA
■
69
Is the action linked to more fundamental social and/or structural transformation requiring a long-term strategy to be
looked at in the future?
As they work through the exercise, participants may also wish to
consider other criteria, bearing in mind that not all solutions are
equally beneficial and that some are more difficult to achieve than
others. These “supplementary” criteria could include, for example: power relations, gender concerns, culture, increased income,
reduced risk, skills available, environmental themes, etc.
The proposed solutions should then be recorded in a chart such
as that shown in Table 4, below. Participants will also need to
decide whether the actions they have identified contribute to prevention, preparedness or mitigation13, and record them appropriately in the chart.
The specific type of problem/issue/hazard is irrelevant – the
process is more important at this stage whether the issue is flooding or health problems, such as HIV (see Annex 1, p. 85).
Table 4
Do actions contribute
to prevention, preparedness
or mitigation?
Actions
Prevention
CIT Preparedness CIT Mitigation CIT
Problem/issue/hazard 1:
Vulnerability 1:
Problem/issue/hazard 1:
Vulnerability 2:
13
Note that it may be necessary to undertake additional exercises to help the community
understand the difference between these three terms. See VCA training guide.
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Plan of action: implementation
Participants are now ready to define realistic solutions and develop
implementation plans. They should focus on those actions that
have been identified with either a “C” or an “I”. These are the
actions that the community can address with limited outside support and which can be accomplished in the short to medium term.
Step 5
For each action, the participants need to ask the following
questions:
■ Can this be undertaken immediately?
■ Does it require resources?
■ Can we find the necessary resources ourselves? If yes, how?
■ Does it require technical support? If so, from where?
When explaining the task, it is important to place special
emphasis on whether:
■ these actions could be initiated with resources already
available;
■ initiating these actions can help mobilize other resources; or
■ external resources are needed.
Depending on the answers, the participants must determine how
– if the solutions they propose require external finances – they
will acquire what they need (for example, using creative ideas
such as raffles, parties, collections, etc.). Also, if the action
requires specific skills, are these available within the community
and if not, where they will find them? This will help community
members focus on the things they can do immediately to help
mitigate risks.
Getting realistic about
planning and not creating
unrealistic expectations
in the community.
How to do a VCA
71
Table 5 below is an example of the chart you should use to complete this final phase of the planning process.
Table 5
Actions
Template for “do-able” actions
Can be
solved
immediately
Requires
financing
Can we find
the resources
ourselves?
How?
Yes
No
Short term
Medium term
Long term
In annexes 1 and 2, (see p. 85 and p. 88) we show two examples
of charts actually completed by a community in the Caribbean:
the first relates to natural disasters and the second to HIV. They
show that the process is adaptable and appropriate for all problems/issues/hazards identified by community members.
The actions identified in these examples are in fact recommendations that can be turned into projects. For example, the community and the National Society may come up with the following
specific projects based on the actions identified in the flood and
HIV examples presented in Annexes 1 and 2:
■ Flood
■ Project 1: Flood awareness programme for communities and
schools.
■ Project 2: Advocacy campaign for changing building codes.
■ Project 3: Community cleaning of all drains.
■ HIV
■ Project 1: HIV peer support programme.
■ Project 2: Advocacy campaign aimed at government to
ensure universal access to testing facilities and affordable
treatment programmes.
Technical
support
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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Project plan of action
Whatever the project, a clear and precise plan of action then needs
to be developed and agreed upon. This should include all steps to
be carried out, the resources needed and who is responsible for
ensuring that the tasks are completed (see Table 6 below). Much
of this information exists already. The task is to systematize the
information into a format that is clear and easy to understand.
Step 6
Table 6
Specific
activity
Information needed for
the planning matrix
Who will ensure
it is done?
Resources
needed
Timeline
1
2
Creating a management timeline (see Table 7, p. 73) is both
helpful and efficient. It will serve to phase-in roles and activities
in a way that saves time and ensures that a sequential timeline is
followed towards achieving the goal.
In the example on page 73, four groups of individuals are
involved in ensuring that sensitization is achieved.
Field data are gathered in the community.
How to do a VCA
Table 7
Management timeline
Week 1
National
Society
Secretary
General.
Week 2
Write to Ministry
of Health, Civil
Defence and local
authorities.
Week 3
Contact Ministry
Set up sensitization
of Health, Civil
sessions for followDefence and local ing week.
authorities to make
appointments.
Branch
leaders.
Sensitize local staff Sensitize local
and volunteers.
community groups.
Participate
in sensitization.
Week 4
Courtesy meeting
with counterparts
from Civil Defence,
Ministry of Health
and local authorities.
VCA
Sensitize National
coordinator. Society management and branch
officials.
Local staff
and
volunteers.
73
Participate
in sensitzation.
Sensitize representatives from
Ministry of Health,
Civil Defence and
local authorities.
Assist in sensitizing local communities
and selecting community focus groups.
Clarifying expectations.
Networking
The VCA process can help connect wider issues, and acts as a tool
for an integrated approach to community work.
Step 7
Of course, National Societies cannot do everything, nor is everything their responsibility. While the technical departments of
your National Society should be mobilized to help meet the
objectives of proposed projects, there will be instances where they
do not have the capacity to help.
Indeed, certain projects may require support from outside the
Red Cross Red Crescent and the community. In that case, you
must ask yourself two questions:
■ Who can help achieve the objectives?
■ Who should be responsible for issues that fall outside of the
Red Cross Red Crescent’s mandate or capacity?
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
This is where the building of strategic partnerships comes into
play, i.e. working with other institutions and partners.
Key
message
74
VCA helps to identify the gaps and
limitations in Red Cross Red Crescent work
and demonstrates the need to form
partnerships with other organizations 14.
From the very beginning of the VCA process, it is crucial for your
National Society to enter into a dialogue with other organizations
whose mandate, knowledge and skills complement the activities
of the Red Cross Red Crescent. You can then call upon these
groups when communities prioritize issues that fall outside your
own areas of expertise.
The community and the National Society will therefore need to
share the VCA results with government and other relevant organizations. To do this, it is essential to involve other partners as early
as possible – such as during the planning stages (see Table 6
p. 72). As the examples in Annexes 1 and 2 demonstrate, the
community may not have sufficient resources to build structures,
such as retention walls. Outside support will be required – in this
case, taking the form of advocacy, so that government authorities
respond to the need.
This is not only good planning practice, but it provides an important service to communities with whom the National Society
works and is a way for the Red Cross Red Crescent to advocate
for change.
14
See reference sheet in the VCA toolbox.
How to do a VCA
Indicators
All risk-reduction projects need indicators to help evaluate the
impact of interventions. For the indicators to be of use, it is essential to have baseline data, as discussed earlier. We have already
seen that baseline data is obtained through the various VCA data
collection activities – in other words the systematized information coming from all of the tools you have used. Baseline data will
include different types of information depending on its intended
purpose – i.e. the process of creating baseline data for disaster
management may be different from that required if health promotion is the objective 15.
Baseline data provides an overall picture of the situation in a community, which can be compared with data collected after riskreduction projects have been implemented. This is very useful in
demonstrating the impact and value of the risk-reduction interventions that the National Society has undertaken in a participatory manner, to both the communities themselves and to donors.
Useful Tips Determining indicators
Specific indicators need to be developed for each intervention.
In some instances (e.g. awareness programmes about school
safety/basic first aid in an earthquake-prone community), it
will be difficult to measure impact because the nature of the
hazard is unpredictable. This can still be done by undertaking
simulation exercises for an example, in which communities
test their newly acquired knowledge.
■ If the community experiences annual events such as flooding,
it is much easier to define indicators and measure impact: it is
known that the event will occur.
■
■
Taking the VCA planning exercise for flood risk as an example (see
Annex 1, p. 85), you can see that, as a result of the various VCA tasks,
the community has identified the following as effects of the hazard:
■ The river overflows its banks at the point where it is blocked,
affecting homes in the vicinity.
15
See reference sheet in the VCA toolbox.
75
76
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
■
■
■
■
■
■
Homes are flooded at ground level.
Household equipment is damaged.
Some of the most vulnerable people (the elderly and the very
young) lost their lives.
More mosquitoes can breed in the area where the river is
blocked, increasing risk of malaria.
Flooding in houses results in drinking-water sources becoming
contaminated.
Drinking contaminated water results in diarrhoea in young
children and some of them die.
Several actions were identified to address these issues. See Table
8, p. 77 are some of the activities (plus a few new ones) along
with related indicators that can be used to measure impact.
VCA information about mapping and direct observation is shared
with a gender-balanced community group.
How to do a VCA
Table 8
Activity
Creation of
an evacuation
plan.
77
Credibility: Activities,
indicators and evidence
Indicator
The village’s
evacuation plan
results in a reduction
of mortality.
Clearing
The clearing and
blocked drains. cleaning of blocked
drains results in less
flooding in homes.
Evidence
Impact after disaster can be measured by
identifying how many people were killed in the
previous year before the evacuation plan was
implemented.
The number of homes flooded in the flood season
after the drains have been cleaned and cleared
can be compared with the number of households
affected the year before.
Health
awareness
campaign.
There is a reduction in The local clinic can compare the number of cases
of children with diarrhoea who have attended the
the number of cases
clinic.
of diarrhoea in
children.
Mosquito
spraying
programme
initiated with
municipality.
The reduction in
mosquito breeding
grounds results in a
reduction of malaria
cases.
The local clinic can compare the number of cases
of malaria seen in the clinic.
Remember that by identifying and measuring indicators, you will
be able to demonstrate the impact of the interventions – to
donors and government. This also puts pressure on authorities
to take action and provides opportunities to implement more
projects.
78
Box 17
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Learning from experience:
VCA in the Solomon Islands
Planning for monitoring and evaluation is vital. A case study of a
VCA carried out by the Solomon Islands Red Cross in 2004 noted:
“The Solomon Islands Red Cross community projects have attracted
high praise, and in demonstrating the feasibility of community-based
work, there is no doubt that very real gains were made as a result of
the pilot projects.
However, no matter how convincing the projects’ worth, it is difficult
to demonstrate their effectiveness in reducing vulnerability because
activities to monitor and evaluate them were not clearly defined at
the begining”.16
Recommendations
and report writing
The final task of a VCA is for the team to sit down, assemble all
activity reports, conclusions and plans (including project recommendations) developed with the community. Together, these will
form the final VCA report.
The VCA report should document the entire process, whilst
remaining concise and clear – so that it will be accessible and easy
to read (rather than sit on a shelf!). The report should be submitted to National Society management and the board for approval,
thereby raising their awareness of what has been achieved.
Once approved, you will also be able to share the report with
relevant stakeholders. This will go a long way towards ensuring
that VCA and community work become integrated into and part
of a standard process within the National Society. This will make
it much easier to organize VCAs in other branches, with the
support of all technical departments.
16
International Federation Suva regional delegation. Solomon Islands: From risk assessment
to community actions. Geneva: International Federation, 2004, p. 16.
How to do a VCA
You should then present the findings of the report, in an appropriate format, to as many interested groups as possible – the most
important of these being, of course, the community itself.
Remember also to disseminate the findings to the International
Federation’s regional or country delegations and to potential partners, government and other relevant stakeholders. The more people and organizations know about VCA, the more it will be used,
leading ultimately, to reduce vulnerabilities.
Proper exchange of information can contribute to:
■ developing strategic alliances;
■ integrating initiatives and resources; and
■ a better understanding of dividers and connectors.
Key
message
Communities will benefit from the increased coordination, cooperation and participation among all actors.
Be proud of the work that has been done.
Annex 3 (p. 91), presents an example of a completed VCA plan.
There is no need to create anything complex. The point is to
make the plan simple and clear as possible that will help the VCA
team remain organized and enable them to monitor progress.
What next?
With the VCA process formally completed, your National
Society is in a position to dissolve the VCA structure and management committee. New management committees can always
be formed when VCAs are carried out in other branches. Each
79
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
VCA will involve setting up a local structure to make sure that
everything functions according to plan; a formal society-wide
structure will not necessarily be required once VCA has been
accepted and integrated into National Society programming.
The hope is that your National Society – and indeed other organisations – will view VCA as an important process which links
local projects to global programmes, whilst providing a practical
means of reducing risk in the most vulnerable communities.
In most countries, government has the overall responsibility for
disaster management, in which the Red Cross Red Crescent is
one of the player, though an important one. Having government
support will strengthen the credibility of the VCA.
Key
message
80
Advocacy for risk reduction on the basis
of a convincing VCA is an important
follow-up responsibility of the National
Society – with support from the
International Federation at regional
and international levels.
Sharing the outcome of VCA with the International Federation
through its regional delegations, as well as with various organizations and government authorities, will enable others to learn from
your experiences and serve to systematize best practices.
In turn, organizations working in community-based disaster
management may not only be interested in results, but also with
your knowledge and skills in VCA – for example, to provide
training for their own staff and volunteers.
This will indeed be a true measure of your success and the leadership that you would have acquired in working effectively to
enhance local capacities in risk reduction.
81
Conclusion
In summary, the information you collect, analyse and interpret
through the VCA process will enable you to determine what
actions can be undertaken to reduce risk – be they of prevention,
preparedness or mitigation. You will decide whether you, along
with the community, can reduce the risk or whether you need to
influence others, such as government, to take corrective steps.
Resources – and how the community, with Red Cross Red
Crescent help, can acquire what is needed – will be identified.
This, in a nutshell, is what makes up the community participatory planning process, itself based on the information gathered
during the VCA.
The better prepared you are to undertake community work based
on quality research, the more credibility you will have with
authorities and, more significantly, with the community.
Implementing VCA is the first and one of the most important
steps.
Key
message
However, you must always be prepared for the unexpected.
Community work is complex and always brings surprises – which
is normal given that you are trying to improve community life.
For the communities involved, this is real
life, not simply an exercise or a project.
All of the work you carry out with these communities will
be linked to the task of reducing vulnerability and building
capacity. The result activities – whether in first aid, food security,
community health or disaster preparedness – can be mutually
82
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
reinforced. When carried out with the involvement of people at
the grass-roots level through the use of community-based investigations, it is a very powerful basis for change.
You can now move on to the VCA toolbox publication, where you
will learn about undertaking research and test the actual information-gathering tools.
Good luck and enjoy your community work.
Gathering field data in the community.
83
List of useful
web sites
Organization
Web site address
Description
ADPC
http://www.adpc.ait.ac.th
Asian Disaster Preparedness
Center
ADPC – ECE
http://www.adpc.ait.ac.th/ece
/info.html
Extreme Climate Events
Resources for Asia/Pacific
ADRC (Japan)
http://www.adrc.or.jp/top.asp
Asian Disaster Reduction
Center, Japan
American Red Cross/
http://www.preparenow.org/
Bay Area Resources
http://www.prepare.org/
Disaster preparedness
information
CIMH
http://www.cimh.edu.bb/
Caribbean Institute for
Meteorology and Hydrology
CDB
http://www.caribank.org/
Caribbean Development Bank
CDERA
http://www.cdera.org/
Caribbean Disaster
Emergency Response Agency
CDMHA
http://coe-dmha.org/
Center for Disaster Management
and Humanitarian Assistance
CEPREDENAC
http://www.cepredenac.org/
Coordinating Center for
Natural Disaster Preparedness
CRED
http://www.cred.be/
Center for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters
CRID
http://www.crid.or.cr/crid/
Indexen.htm
Regional Disaster Information
Center (Latin America)
http://www.southasiadisasters.
net/
Disaster Mitigation Institute,
Gujarat, India
American Red Cross:
Prepare.org
(Central America)
(Latin America)
DMI (India)
O
84
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Organization
Web site address
Description
EERI
http://www.eeri.org
Earthquake Engineering
Research Institute
FEMA for Kids
http://www.fema.gov/kids/
Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA),
USA – web site for children
FEWS
http://www.fews.net/
Famine Early Warning System
Network
GDIN
http://www.gdin-international
.org/links.html
Global Disaster Information
Network
Interaction
http://www.interaction.org/
American Council for
Voluntary International Action
Learning Resource
http://www.lrc.fema.gov
Online card catalogue
(sponsored by FEMA, USA)
http://www.colorado.edu/
hazards/
University of Colorado, USA
NDMC
http://www.drought.unl.edu/
index.htm
National Drought Mitigation
Center, University of
Nebraska, USA
OAS – NHP
http://www.oas.org/nhp/
Organization of American
States’ Natural Hazards
Project
OAS – CDMP
http://www.oas.org/en/cdmp/
Organization of American
States’ Caribbean Disaster
Mitigation Project
PAHO – PED
http://www.paho.org/disast
ers/
Pan American Health
Organization’s Preparedness
Programme
ProVention
http://www.proventionconsor
tium.org
Global coalition to reduce
disaster impacts
(California, USA)
Center
Natural Hazards
Center
Consortium
85
Annexes
Annex 1 The Caribbean: Flood
Table 1.1
Flood: Example chart
Problem/
issue/
hazard
Flood
Potential
risk
■
The river floods
over the banks
affecting homes
in the vicinity.
■
Homes become
water-logged
at ground level.
■
Household
equipment is
damaged.
■
Most vulnerable
people (elderly
and very young)
lost their lives.
■
More mosquitoes
can breed in the
area where river
is blocked,
increasing risk
of malaria.
■
Flooding in
homes results in
drinking-water
sources becoming
contaminated.
■
Drinking
contaminated
water results in
diarrhoea in
young children.
Vulnerabilities
■
Poor
infrastructure
■
Poor
agricultural
practices
■
Poor
drainage
■
Poor
sanitation
■
Lack of
agricultural
supplies
Capacities Immediate
needs
■
Training
■
Food
■
Skilled
personnel
■
Housing
■
Sanitation
facilities
■
Storage
facilities
■
Evacuation
plan
Mitigation
actions
■
Retention
walls
■
Cleaning
up
rubbish
86
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Table 1.2 Flood: Vulnerabilities and capacities
Problem/
issue/hazard
Flood
Vulnerabilities
Actions to transform vulnerabilities
into capacities
Poor
infrastructure
1. Advocate for enforcement of building codes.
2. Clean and maintain drains.
3. Request funds for proper and improved
infrastructure.
4. Request proper zoning and allocation
of farm land.
1. Construct sealed storage for seeds.
2. Pre-arrange for supplies, so they are
accessible immediately.
3. Plant crops with high water tolerance.
4. Construct beds/drains to manage flow.
Poor
agricultural
practices
Table 1.3 Flood: Classing actions as prevention,
preparation or mitigation
Actions
Prevention CIT Preparation CIT Mitigation CIT
1. Advocate for enforcement
of building codes.
2. Clean and maintain drains.
3. Request funds for proper and
improved infrastructure.
4. Request proper zoning and
allocation of farm land.
X
I
X
I
1. Construct sealed storage
for seeds.
2. Pre-arrange for supplies,
so they are accessible
immediately.
3. Plant crops with high water
tolerance.
4. Construct beds/drains to
manage flow.
X
C
X
X
C
I
X
C
X
I
X
C
X
C
X
C
X
C
How to do a VCA
Table 1.4
87
Flood: What resources
are required?
Actions
Can the action
be implemented
immediately
(short-term) or
are they more
medium or long
term?
Does
the action
require
financing?
Can the community
find the resources
themselves? How?
What is needed?
Does
the action
require
technical
support?
Clean and
maintain
drains
Yes
Short
to medium
term
Yes
Yes.
■ Volunteers.
■ Own tools.
■ Training people
to clean drains.
■ Seek donations from
stores.
Yes
Municipality,
NGOs
Construct
sealed
storage
for seeds
Yes
Longer term
Yes
Yes
■ Use local skills (design
estimate)
■ Land donation for site.
■ Seek donations for
material
■ Volunteer labour
Yes
Municipality,
NGOs,
private
construction
firms
88
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Annex 2 The Caribbean: HIV
Table 2.1
Hazard
HIV
Potential
risk
■
■
■
Poverty
Reduction
in the work
force
Increase in
health-care
costs
Vulnerabilities
■
■
■
■
HIV
■
■
Ignorance
Discrimination/
stigma
Poor access to
health care and
counselling
services
■
■
■
■
Peer
educators
Ability to
change
Awareness
programmes
Open media
Immediate
needs
■
■
■
Affordable
treatments
Support to
families
Anti-stigma
education
Mitigation
actions
■
Education
HIV: Vulnerabilities and capacities
Vulnerabilities
■
Capacities
Ignorance
Discrimination
and stigma
Economics
Poor access to
health care
Table 2.2
Problem/
issues/hazard
HIV: Example chart
Actions to transform vulnerabilities
into capacities
■
■
■
■
■
■
Education and awareness campaigns with
teenagers, parents, village councils, religious
leaders, teachers, etc.
Train people to provide counselling services.
Approach government for additional healthcare funds.
Approach regional and international agencies
that fund health projects.
Ensure better access to testing facilities.
Seek human and social service support for
families with HIV/AIDS members.
How to do a VCA
Table 2.3
HIV: Classing actions
as prevention, preparation
or mitigation
Actions to transform
vulnerabilities into
capacities
■
■
■
■
■
89
Education and awareness
campaigns with teens,
parents, village councils,
religious leaders, teachers,
etc.; train people to provide
counselling services.
Approach government for
additional health-care funds.
Approach regional and
international agencies that
fund health projects.
Ensure better access to
testing facilities.
Seek out human and social
service support for families
with HIV/AIDS members.
Prevention CIT Preparation CIT Mitigation CIT
X
I
X
C
X
C
X
C
X
I
X
C
X
C
X
C
X
I
X
I
90
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Table 2.4
Actions
Awareness
campaign
HIV: What resources
are required?
Can the action
Does
be implemented the action
immediately
require
(short-term)
financing?
or are they
more medium
or long term?
Can the
community find
the resources
themselves?
How? What
is needed?
Does
the action
require
technical
support?
Yes
Short to medium
term
Yes
Yes
■ People
■ Handouts and
posters
No
■ There are already
trained people
■ There are preprepared
handouts
Access
to testing
facilities
No
Medium
to long term
Yes
Not all
■ Government must
provide facilities,
equipment and
staff
Yes
■ Medical staff
■ Laboratory staff
■ Administrative
staff
Counselling
No
Medium term
Yes
Not all
■ Counsellors
■ Location
■ Administrative
support
Yes
■ Counsellors
How to do a VCA
91
Annex 3 A sample “critical pathway”
for implementing your VCA
Phases
Preparation phase
Activity
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Implementation
phase
■
■
Who will
Resources
ensure it is
needed
done?
Sensitization of
headquarters and
branches/creation
of management
committee/terms
of reference
Letter to regions
Develop budget
■
Driving
force
■
Procurement of
supplies for VCA
Selection and training
of VCA facilitators/
selection of
communities
■
Secretary
General
VCA
coordinator
VCA staff
Collection and
analysis of external/
secondary data
■
Week
1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 8+12
■
Office
material,
presentation
X
X
■
VCA guides
X
X
■
Space,
materials
X
X
X
■
■
Preparation of tools
(translated and made
community
appropriate)
Initial community visits
Field testing day
VCA planning
■
Mobilization of
community
Data collection
■
Management committee and
coordinator
Skilled
members of
VCA team
Management committee and
coordinator
X
■
■
VCA team
VCA team
■
Bibs/caps,
markers,
pens, paper,
transport
Bibs/caps,
markers,
pens, paper,
transport
X
X
X
X
92
Phases
Analysis
phase
Activity
■
■
■
Action
planning
phase
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
■
■
Data entry, analysis
and interpretation of
data
Data report,
recommendations
Validation of results
with community
members
Planning process with
the community
Preparation of final
report to management
committee and board
for approval
Who will
Resources
ensure it is
needed
done?
■
■
VCA team,
statistics
consultant
VCA
coordinator,
VCA team
■
■
Access to
computer,
prepare
info for
community
Markers,
pens, paper,
transport
Week
1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 8+12
X
X
X
X
X
The Fundamental Principles
of the International Red Cross
and Red Crescent Movement
Humanity
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, born of
a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the
battlefield, endeavours, in its international and national capacity, to prevent
and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is
to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being.
It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting
peace amongst all peoples.
Impartiality
It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class
or political opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals,
being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent
cases of distress.
Neutrality
In order to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides
in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial,
religious or ideological nature.
Independence
The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries
in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws
of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that
they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of
the Movement.
Voluntary service
It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by desire
for gain.
Unity
There can be only one Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in any one
country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work
throughout its territory.
Universality
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, in which
all societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties
in helping each other, is worldwide.
By coordinating international
disaster relief and encouraging
development support it seeks
to prevent and alleviate
human suffering.
The International Federation,
the National Societies and
the International Committee
of the Red Cross together
constitute the International
Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement.
84700/2 04/2007 E 2,000
The International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies promotes the humanitarian
activities of National Societies among
vulnerable people.